Chapter 7/Story
That suspicious character by the pond with the strange mask caused Kappa discomfort. Synopsis Pondside Spirit Kappa, an aquatic yokai, requests Seimei for his help to investigate the mysterious disappearances of spirits near the pond's edge. He suspects the culprit to be a strange masked man who is said to have visited the pond frequently. Shiro and Kuromujou enter agreeing to look further into the matter. Hiromasa who meet the two for the first time remarks that Seimei knows a lot of strange people. Kohaku mentions that the disappearing victims are all young girls. Kappa adds that a "very beautiful" spirit girl lives in his pond and is concerned if she may become the next target. Hiromasa decides to join this investigation as Yaobikuni stays behind. The masked Yokai, Youko is near the pond seemingly encouraging something to dance which later on confirms he was teaching rice fish to dance. Seimei senses his strong nether force. The masked man questions their presence, but refuses to answer any of their questions. Hiromasa reacts defensively. Youko suspects them as bandits and disturbances and responds in a hostile manner. After, Youko's defeat, he admits that he underestimated Seimei's power. Kappa then accuses Youko that he was responsible of the disappearances of the girls. The masked man seems to be oblivious about the kidnapping but Kappa pushes him only to get the same innocent response. Then a friendly carp spirit named Koi appears and introduces herself as a good friend of Kappas' making him blush and stutter. She is also convinced that Youko is a "nice" guy. This convinces Kohaku and Hiromasa that Youko was innocent. Although, Seimei, Kagura and Kappa are still doubtful and decide to further investigate. Kohaku then reminds the company that Kappa mentioned a very beautiful girl spirit in this pond. Kappa becomes extremely abashed. Koi picks up on that and questions him but he quickly denies it. Kohaku asks whereabouts the cute girl spirit went and Kappa is very hesitant. Then Kohaku realises that the cute girl spirit Kappa was talking about is Koi. Kappa runs away clearly embarrased causing the four to chase after him. Kohaku asks why he ran and stated that that was his "chance". Hiromasa doesn't seem to realise that Kappa has developed a liking for Koi surprising Kohaku. Seimei comments on Hiromasa's lack of perception. It took a while for him to realise that Kappa had "fallen in love" with Koi as said by Kagura embarrasing Kappa further. Kohaku and Seimei encourage Kappa to confess his feelings for Koi but he puts himself down believing that he wasn't good enough for her. Kappa states that he cannot show his face in the pond again and hurries away in search of another pond. Seimei calls after him warning him that leaving Koi wouldn't fix anything and that facing his fears was the best thing to do. They decide to go back to the pond to ask Koi about her feelings for Kappa. But Koi was nowhere to be seen. Then they spot her scales on the surface of the water which could be used to locate her with divination. Yaobikuni enters asking if Seimei called for her. Seimei asks her to track the owner of the scales in the pond, Kohaku unnecessarily adds that she is a "very beautiful spirit" once again. As soon as Yaobikuni finds Koi's location she agrees that Koi is a cute girl spirit and sees her heading towards a large mansion. Yaobikuni also mentions that Koi was meeting with the man wearing the mask Youko. Koi is struggling to breathe as she was out in air for too long. Gentlemen Hero As Koi and Youko reach his obnoxious mansion, Koi tiredly asks him to get into his pond for refreshment and goes on about how tasty the food must be. But suddenly Youko reveals his true intentions as the kidnapper in a much more sinister voice as he traps Koi in his Blade bind spell. The shocked girl spirit naïvely questions why Youko is doing this and he tells her that he had fooled her. Youko confesses his unhealthy obsession with beautiful women just as Seimei's group appeared to rescue Koi. They find out Youko was behind the disappearances after all and Hiromasa is surprised that even he was fooled. Yaobikuni comments that Youko has a bizarre hobby. Hiromasa protectively threatens the masked man to stay away from Kagura. Seimei decided to battle Youko and he reveals his true identity behind his mask. After Youko had been defeated once again, Hiromasa threatens him further leaving Youko "howling" for mercy. Seimei refuses to finish him off saying that his skill could prove useful in the future. Youko vanishes in fear and surrender releasing Koi from the bind spell. As she thanks them, she falls unconscious from the lack of water. In despair, suddenly a ball of water is dropped onto Koi and she regains conscious. Kappa reveals that he had been following the group. Seimei encourages Kappa to confess. Kappa tells Koi how important she is to him and is instantly ashamed of his words, but Koi thanks him for saving her. She suggests that they should be friends for all eternity. Seimei seems satisfied with the result and suggests that someone could teach Kappa some poetry.